1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for writing data to a device.
2. Related Art
Devices such as printers and other peripheral devices are generally used connected to a management device used as a host device. The host controls a particular peripheral device according to the type of peripheral device that is connected to the host. As a result, the host must get the identification information (a model ID) assigned to the peripheral device before the peripheral device can be controlled. Note that the model ID is identification information representing a value that uniquely identifies the model of a particular device.
Technology enabling the host to acquire the identification information assigned to peripheral devices is taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2004-185635, for example. This technology is described below. First, an information processing device broadcasts a request for the identifier of each network-compatible peripheral device. The peripheral devices then respond to this broadcast using an ID number or device type information, for example.
Based on the acquired model IDs, the host looks for data and a control program for the peripheral. Technology that performs a specific bit operation on the acquired model ID, and compares the result with a known bit string that is already correlated to the data and control program, is used to confirm a correlation and prevent search errors.
However, the length (data length) of the model ID assigned to each peripheral device is generally fixed, and the range of numbers that can be used as a model ID is therefore limited. For example, if the model ID is 7 bits long, the range of numbers that can be used as a model ID is 0 to 127. While this enables assigning a new model ID to 128 models, new model IDs cannot be assigned if there are 129 models or more. If a model ID is assigned to a new model using a new format with a longer model ID, the format of the model ID will differ between new models and old models. Such different formats can lead to model ID recognition errors by the host device. When the correlation to a particular device is checked with a bit operation as described above, format differences are likely to produce recognition errors, and cause problems when overwriting the firmware or other control program for a peripheral device based on the model ID. In addition, in order to individually accommodate different formats, the configuration of both devices with different formats must generally be changed, thus increasing the burden on the product designer and system administrator.